Francesc Abad (born 1944 in

Terrassa Terrassa (, es, Tarrasa) is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona, ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the co-capital along with Sabadell. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin '' ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

) is a Spanish artist known for

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called inst ...

body art Body art is art made on, with, or consisting of, the human body. Body art covers a wide spectrum including tattoos, body piercings, scarification, and body painting. Body art may include performance art, body art is likewise utilized for investi ...

, and

land art Land art, variously known as Earth art, environmental art, and Earthworks, is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, largely associated with Great Britain and the United StatesArt in the modern era: A guide to styles, schools, & mov ...

Career

Abad studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Terrassa and at the Center for Pedagogical Documentation in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. In 1972, he settled in New York. He entered the art world through painting, characterized by the simplification of forms and the reduction of color, before moving on to

. In recent years, most of his art is

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...

artistic work. His exhibition on , a project based on the events of the Camp de la Bota in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

, the beach where between 1939 and 1952 the Franco regime shot at least 1704 people, stands out. Abad wanted to rescue these events from oblivion after the works of the Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004 on the grounds of such a bad memory for the people of Barcelona. The exhibition is a collection of documents and testimonies of relatives or friends of the victims, and was presented in

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capit ...

El Prat de Llobregat El Prat de Llobregat (), commonly known as El Prat , is a municipality of Spain located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Llobregat in Catalonia. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport largely lies within the municipal limits. It is part ...

Manresa Manresa () is the capital of the Comarca of Bages, located in the geographical centre of Catalonia, Spain, and crossed by the river Cardener. It is an industrial area with textile, metallurgical, and glass industries. The houses of Manresa a ...

and

; on July 27, 2007, the artist donated the work to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA).

Exhibitions

* 1971 Formes Primàries,

Ateneo de Madrid The Ateneo de Madrid ("Athenæum of Madrid") is a private cultural institution located in the capital of Spain that was founded in 1835. Its full name is ''Ateneo Científico, Literario y Artístico de Madrid'' ("Scientific, Literary and Artistic ...

. * 1977 Homenatge a l'home del career, Sala Tres, Sabadell. Chronicle of a situation, Amics de les Arts,

. * 1978 Les setrilleres, Institut Industrial, Terrassa. Degradació de la Natura, Espai b5-125,

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; , es, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona; UAB), is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. ...

, Bellaterra. * 1981 Material Humà, Metrònom, Barcelona. * 1984 Have a good time, Canaleta Gallery, Figueres. * 1986 Parany, Espai d'anar i tornar, Barcelona's Quantity Surveyors Association. Entropy, Muncunill Gallery, Terrassa. * 1987 Paisatges paraŀlels,

Sala Fortuny Sala or SALA may refer to: Places Europe * Sala, the historical name of the river IJssel and home of the Salii Franks * Sala (Estonian island), one of the Uhtju islands * Sala Baganza, a municipality in Emilia-Romagna, Italy * Sala Bolognese, ...

, Reus. * 1987-1988 Dinosaures, Pertorbacions irreversibles, Fundació Caixa de Pensions de Barcelona. * 1988 L'esperit de la utopia. Parpalló Hall, Valencia. La Torre de l'Àngel, Subject-Object, Museu d'Art Espai-83, Sabadell. * 1989 Europa Arqueologia de Rescat. Metrònom, Barcelona. Arteleku Guipuzkoako Foru Aldundia, San Sebastian. Exhibition Hall

Centro Insular de Cultura Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...

(CIC), Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Monastery of Veruela A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

. Deputation of Zaragoza. * 1990 Bildung: The image of thought,

Alfonso Alcolea Gallery Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

, Barcelona. * 1991 La línia de Portbou, Homage to

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewi ...

Barcelona City Council The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan: ''Ajuntament de Barcelona''; Spanish: ''Ayuntamiento de Barcelona'') is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the municipality of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In terms of political structure, ...

. Solo exhibition, ARCO'91. Alfonso Alcolea Gallery, Madrid. Endstation Portbou, Hommage für Walter Benjamin, Historisches Museum, Frankfurt am Main. * 1992 Portbou-ko muga, Walter Benjamin Omenaldia. Arteleku, San Sebastian. Entorn al caos, Alfonso Alcolea Gallery, Barcelona. Haags Centrum, The Hague, The Netherlands. S.A., Municipal Foundation of Gijón. La paraula i el paisatge, Trayecto, Vitoria. * 1994 Solo cum solo,

Le Magasin Founded in 1986, Le Magasin - Centre National d'Art Contemporain is housed in an industrial hall, built for the 1900 Paris World's Fair by the workshops of Gustave Eiffel. Manufacturers Bouchayer and Viallet, working in the area of hydroelectric ...

Contemporary Art Center, Grenoble. * 1996 Continuum, Three indirect discourses, Francesc Abad, Esther Ferrer, Concha Jerez. Trayecto, Vitoria. Elogi a l'ombra, Tristan Barbara Gallery, Barcelona. Lluc Fluxá Gallery, Palma de Mallorca.

Museum of Art of Girona A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

. Denise Van de Velde, Aalst, Belgium. Paisatge, Capella de Sant Corneli, Cardedeu. Un alè d'aire, Sala Muncunill, Terrassa. Elogi a l'ombra, Soler-Casamada Gallery, Terrassa. Hotel Europa, Tinglado 2, Tarragona. * 1997 Un ull que no forma parte del món, Palacio de la Virreina, Barcelona. Denken Danken, Metropolitan Gallery, Barcelona. * 1998 The word and the world, Espais, Girona. Flanders Stedelig Museum Oud-Hospitaal, Aalst, Belgium. * 1999 Visions de futur, La paraula i el Món,

Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs (, from , the ancient Roman name for the town; en, "Institute for Lleida Studies"), also known by the acronym IEI, is a cultural institution created on March 25, 1942 in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain by the provincial dele ...

, Lleida. * 2000 La Paraula i el Món, Sa Nostra, Ibiza. Wart War, Interactive installation, Media terra 2000, Athens, Greece. * 2001 Wart War, Interactive installation, Sala Reus. * 2002 Copulative Conjunctions, Metrònom, Barcelona. Utopia i Adaptació, within the project Espais Obrats Can Paulet, Mataró. Wart War, interactive installation, El Roser, Lleida. Espais obrats, Can Palauet, Mataró. * 2004-2007 El Camp de la Bota, Torre Muntadas, El Prat del Llobregat. Regional Museum of Manresa. Can Sistère, Santa Coloma de Gramanet. Wine Museum, Villafranca del Panadés. Museum of the History of Immigration of Catalonia, Masia de Can Serra, San Adrián de Besós. Museum of Mataró. Caixa de Manlleu Museum/Hall. Abelló Museum, Mollet del Vallés. Muncunill Hall, Terrassa.

Bibliography

* Claudia Kalasz and Francesc Abad, F.A. - W.B. Correspondencias, Retrospectiva en papel I, Terrassa: Edición del author, 2017. * Xavier Nueno and Francesc Abad, Napa(s). Persistir en lo inacabado. Retrospectiva en papel II, Santander: Ediciones La Bahía, 2018. * Francesc Abad, Panorama. Retrospectiva en papel III, Barcelona: If Publications, 2018. * Enzo Traverso, "Ernst Bloch - Francesc Abad. Correspondencies", Barcelona: La Automática, 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abad, Francesc 1944 births Living people Spanish artists People from Terrassa